Richard Posner

Richard Posner Is Retiring

Like, now. He's retiring right now.

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(Photo by Chensiyuan via Wikimedia Commons.)

Richard Posner announced today that he will be retiring from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals… on Saturday.

Posner is arguably the best known appellate judge in the entire country, and is often referred to as the “Tenth Justice” on the Supreme Court. His opinions, writings, and teachings all but define his particular school of thought.

And he’s leaving… tomorrow?

From the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin:

“I am proud to have promoted a pragmatic approach to judging during my time on the Court, and to have had the opportunity to apply my view that judicial opinions should be easy to understand and that judges should focus on the right and wrong in every case,” Posner said in a statement.

“I look forward to continuing to teach and publish, with a particular focus on social justice reform.”

It’s an abrupt end for one of the most storied legal careers in history.

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Posner was appointed the bench in 1981 by Ronald Reagan. His theories on law and economics pretty much define the field.

But if it seems like I’m talking about an easily labeled “conservative” to you, you don’t know Richard Posner. In fact, his intellectual independence is the only reason Posner retires as a Seventh Circuit judge, and not a Supreme Court Justice. That Posner was not a “reliable” enough conservative vote to be put on the Court tells you everything you need to know about our broken nomination and confirmation process, and very little about Posner’s importance as an American jurist.

Not that Posner would want to be on the Court anyway.

“It’s not a real court,” Posner said in a 2014 interview with the Daily Law Bulletin. “It’s a political court.”

Sources report that Posner’s decision “blindsided” his colleagues. “Posner Clerk Twitter” seems to have had a bit more lead time — at least there is less breathlessness there. But it doesn’t seem like anybody expected the retirement.

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And I’ll just say again… he’s leaving Saturday? Tomorrow? When you’re done you’re done, I guess. But, this seems like a good time to mention that we can be reached at tips@abovethelaw.com. If you know something we don’t, use the subject line “WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL” or something similarly alarming.

I’ll leave the deification of Posner to others. He leaves behind a canon that will be wrestled with by a generation to come.

But I will mention that Radiolab’s Supreme Court spinoff More Perfect is launching Season 2 soon, and one of our episodes includes an interview I was able to do with Richard Posner, and now that interview turns out to come near the end of his long and storied career. So check that out if you want to hear what it’s like to actually try to argue with the man.

Richard Posner announces retirement [Chicago Daily Law Bulletin]

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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